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A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department today (February 12) reminded members of the public not to provide any pirated articles on their websites for downloading as they may commit a criminal offence under the Copyright Ordinance.

He pointed out that Customs piracy fighters yesterday (February 11) detected an online piracy case and arrested a man suspected to have provided pirated articles for Internet surfers to download.

Acting on intelligence from the IFPI, Customs officers from the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau conducted intensive investigations into two illegal websites from which pirated MP3 files and computer software could be downloaded.

During an operation yesterday, the officers raided the target unit in Aberdeen and arrested a 26-year-old man. The officers also seized one computer and a batch of broadband Internet connection devices.

The spokesman said, "Initial enquiries revealed that the arrested man had set up a server for downloading infringing articles by converting a set of computer at his residential preimise and registering with Dynamic IP Re-direction Service provided by Internet Services Provider."

The spokesman warned that distributing pirated articles on the Internet is a serious offence. Under the Copyright Ordiance, the maximum penalty for the offence is eight years' imprisonment and a fine of $500,000.

End/Wednesday, February 12, 2003

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